- Joined
- March 13, 2005
- Messages
- 7,283
- Reaction score
- 21
- City, State
- Martinsburg WV
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 84 BII "Li'l Samson"
What a difference it makes driving in the snow with the winch moved to the back receiver.
Going to modify the front cowl for more air to the radiator. Not that's it's running hot while DD and trails. But it does warm up quick on a hot Aug. day in low and doing some rocks.
Now when I add the Atlas and do more climbs and trails running in low I want as much air as possible going through the radiator.
As you can see it's blocking the very bottom rows.
Here I go again cutting metal ha ha. The center section is cut out.
Next was to fab up some new mounting brackets for the two end pieces that have the turn signals.
Just increased the flow rate by a few CFMs. Like one member suggested, I'll find some expanded metal and cover the whole front of the grill. Not that I haven't poked a who through the radiator yet ha ha.
Now onto the next mod. Anybody who has followed this thread knows that I like removing the quick disco doors and front fenders for trail rides. Plus removing the fenders really helps in cooling that V8.
But the hood has always stayed on due to having to unbolt the hinges. Now the stock hinges have been replaced long ago with Jeep hinges that are on top of the skinned hood.
Not only does the hood hold in heat, it really restricts my line of sight due to it's height. No problem on trails, but on rocks it makes it hard to make a tactical approach.
Here's what I mean. Sitting in the seat and truck on level ground, objects any closer then 20' I can not see directly in front of me that's on ground. This was longer then what I thought, untill I actually measured it.
So here's what I did. This is the stock jeep hinge that I modified long ago.
My idea is to re-modify and make into a lift off rear hinge.
Out for the zillionth time come my cut-off grinder and sliced off one weld puddle at end. Now you can see the faint lines of the stud that the hinge rotates around.
Then a few smacks with a drift pin tool and the hinge comes apart.
Cut the one tang off, drill and tap for Zerk fitting. This was done just so I could see the look on the faces of the jeep guys ha ha. Seriously though, it was rust bad and had to sand the pin after separating hinge. The water repellent green grease ought to solve that problem.
Here you can see how the bottom piece just slides off the top part that would be mounted on the cowl below windshield.
So now all I do to remove hood is to pull the front two hood pins, lift up and slide hood to left. It's off in about as much time as it took me to type this sentence
now with the few seconds it took to remove hood, I just increased my SH or Sight Horizon from 20' to 17'. Now I told you I had too much time on my hands
Just for your information. Those two front fenders with the large tubed fenders weight 9#s each. The skinned hood weighs 25#s. If you don't think a stock B2 hood is not heavy, just weigh one. One day I'll weigh the skinned,vinyl window doors also. Their was really a weight reduction there.
Oh ya, one other thing. Trying to locate a Ford Taurus 3.8 fan that I might even add behind radiator. Be great for some real slow trail runs.